I love time travel the most!

"It's alright. As long as the enemy consists of automatons controlled by puppeteers, I will be invincible."

Kobayashi casually uttered those overly confident words.

But this excited Charlotte even more.

She said urgently, "That's why I said you're an idiot! You'll be discovered by the guards here before you even reach D-works. If it gets out that you took the automaton out of school, it won't just be a matter of being expelled; the child might even be confiscated and dismantled!"

"As long as we don't get caught, it's fine."

"...You offended the Kingsford family before, and you might even have offended the government that could be backing them. There are a lot of people who want to kill you—people who are eyeing you covetously!"

"It's okay, I don't care."

Even if Kobayashi causes a major disaster and does something irreparable, or is targeted by an invincible and powerful enemy, he can still travel back to "Konosuba".

This is also where his confidence lies.

"...I won't let you go."

Charlotte held Sigmund on her arm and said with a threatening surge of magic, "If you're going anyway, you'll have to beat me first."

Sigmund's eyes gleamed, and his wings were fully spread.

This is its posture of preparing for battle.

Charlotte said, "You protected me. So, in return, I must protect you too, that's fair. Of course, this will only happen once. But since it's only once, I will protect you no matter what means I have to use, even if you resent me."

"Why go to this extent?"

"That's what I should be asking, Kobayashi, why did you go to such lengths? To protect that child, you risked your own safety and your life..."

"Because you two are very similar."

They were all trying to save their families, they were all bad at socializing and always avoided crowds, they were all constantly pushing themselves to achieve their goals, and they persisted even when misunderstood by others. They were all carrying huge burdens on their small shoulders.

Aside from one being arrogant and the other timid, they are no different.

"Because you two are so alike. So, just as I saved you, I also want to save her."

Upon hearing Xiaolin's words, the proud girl's expression gradually changed, and she pouted as if in a huff.

"How cunning... how cunning!"

"I want to save someone."

Charlotte had no right to stop Kobayashi from doing so, because she too had been saved in the past.

Finally, she relented.

"Hmph, go wherever you want. Just leave on your own and die in the middle of nowhere!"

"Yes, yes, I will be careful."

In situations like this, you have to interpret her words in reverse, since she has a proud and aloof personality.

and--

"Even if I'm stopped, I won't resent you, Charlotte. After all, you care about me."

"……Eh?"

“I am sincerely grateful to anyone who cares about me, so I would never resent you.”

"Who cares about you!"

Charlotte blushed, looking quite adorable with her shy expression.

Kobayashi smiled, and then his figure disappeared along with Ryuu and Yomi, leaving only the proud girl's worries floating in mid-air.

"Fool……"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The scenery changes.

Two people and a dog appeared at the orphanage.

Yomi's eyes widened, he opened his mouth, spun around several times, and kept sniffing the ground and the airways around him.

It took it a while to be convinced that it had really returned, and in an instant!

"Hey, kid."

"how?"

"Is this some kind of magic trick by your automaton?"

"Just take it as yes."

Kobayashi's ambiguous answer.

It's not that we're hiding it, but explaining it would be too troublesome, and now is not the right time to explain.

The orphanage was brightly lit at this time.

Presumably because it was daytime, security was tighter, especially after they learned that Kobayashi and the others were still alive, which made the guards here very tense.

Just as Charlotte said, coming here again is not a wise choice.

"Shall we sneak in, Lord Kobayashi?"

"No, no, no, we are not thieves, we can't do things sneakily."

"Hey kid, forcing your way in isn't something a gentleman does."

"What are you talking about? It's just going home. Of course, it's you going home, Yomi. We're just visiting your home."

"Oh, then there's no problem."

The two people and the dog calmly decided to break through from the front.

Enter the gate.

Suddenly sensing a danger signal, driven by instinct, the two people and the dog jumped away on the spot.

A sharp weapon fell from the sky and sank into the ground.

It's a short sword!

At this moment, many dark figures were looking down at them from the rooftop. Through the [Five Perspectives Omnipotence], it was discovered that there were ten people in total, half of whom were automatons, a force not to be underestimated.

...This is indeed the case for most people.

Seeing this, Kobayashi remained calm and said, "Let's make a big scene!"

"Yes, Master Xiaolin."

"receive."

After a brief opening, the elegant waiter and the wolfhound went into battle mode.

"Speaker control!"

Yomi opened his mouth wide and unleashed a blast of air, larger and more powerful than Rabbi's, towards the puppeteers on the roof. Just seconds later, a deafening explosion followed, accompanied by dust and debris.

The puppeteers on the roof were all wiped out.

"Wow!" Kobayashi exclaimed, "That's a bit exaggerated. If you had shown this power earlier, there would have been no need to abandon those [Gam] units."

"...No, I didn't expect it to be so powerful. I think it must be due to your magic."

Yomi knew his limits; otherwise, he wouldn't have been abandoned.

As they spoke, numerous enemies hidden around them surrounded them, armed with guns. At the same time, short swords floated around them, clearly indicating that they were angel-type automatons.

"Looks like there's no escaping it... Just kidding."

After being enchanted with a barrier spell, the two people and the dog rushed off in different directions. With the magical enhancement, firearms were completely negligible.

Furthermore, the enemies' movements were not smooth, and the short swords they shot flew in straight lines, taking a long time to retrieve, a far cry from Loki's ability to freely control Gabriel.

Kobayashi and Ryuko coordinated their movements, one attacking the automatons and the other blocking the short sword. In just a few dozen seconds, they rendered the four angel-type automatons powerless.

Yomi also killed a puppeteer.

Seeing this, the enemy had completely lost the will to fight and clearly wanted to escape.

"No, no, we can't let you escape."

Kobayashi had no intention of letting them off the hook.

Helping bad people deserves punishment, especially in such a horrific RT experiment, where death is the only way for them to atone. As for whether they will be forgiven, that's for the goddess to decide.

The fleeing enemy let out a wail:

"Damn it! He's too strong!"

"How to do!"

"Quickly, find more puppeteers!"

As Kobayashi and his companions were effortlessly eliminating the surrounding enemies, a large sword suddenly pierced the ground with a loud bang.

A person stood on the hilt of the sword, looking down at Kobayashi.

"Lord Loki!"

"It's Lord Loki!"

"Great, we're saved."

With shouts of relief echoing in his ears, Xiaolin was starting to wonder if he was the bad guy.

Loki, his pearly hair swaying lightly, said with his back to the moon, “I am humble and forgiving... Of course, there are still three kinds of people I cannot forgive: those who order me around, those who defy me, and those filthy rats who don’t know their own mortality.”

Although it was meant as a threat, Kobayashi interpreted it differently.

Did you run away from the academy because you were worried?

Flying was Gabriel's forte; if he were alone, perhaps he could be carried in the air.

Then, Loki jumped off the greatsword.

He manipulated the greatsword to spin it, then flew towards Kobayashi, who remained motionless, as if he were frozen in terror.

Amidst everyone's excited and expectant gazes, the greatsword fiercely... grazed past him, and the automatons surrounding him were unable to dodge in time, their hearts pierced, and they fell straight down.

Before anyone could figure out what was going on, Gabriel flew toward another doll.